U.S. Politics

Previewed yesterday, here's a bit of a post-preview, if you will, of Hillary Clinton's speech at the Council on Foreign Relations today (just about over now), mostly courtesy of our friends on the FP blogging team.Â Laura Rozen had some excerpts of the speech before Clinton even gave it; WaPo's Glenn Kessler

Ben Smith compiles some previews of what is being billed as a major speech from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tomorrow:
â€œShe is bringing the concept of â€˜it takes a villageâ€™ to foreign policy,â€ said Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott, invoking the title of a well-received book that Clinton wrote while her husband was in the White House.

Aside from that one quibble, I generally agree with the grades Bill Easterly and Chris Blattman accorded to Obama's speech in Accra. I'd probably only give Obama an A-/B+ myself.Â
The reason is less substance than the optics of it all. Â Â

Bill Easterly grades Obama's Accra speech.Â He comes away generally positive, but this bit irks him.Â â€œWe welcome the steps that are being taken by organizations like the African Union and ECOWAS to better resolve conflicts, keep the peace, and support those in need. And we encourage the vision of a strong, regional security architecture that can bring effective, transnational force to bear when needed.â€

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a group of scientists from scores of countries that study the effects of climate change.Â Their findings have provided scientific backbone to policy debates about how much carbon emissions should be reduced over how long a period of time to stem the most dramatic effects of climate change.Â In other words, they are an invaluable resource to humanity.Â

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a press release to announce that she will be meeting with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency to talk about drug trafficking in Honduras.
â€œObtaining an assessment from DEA about the situation on the ground is of increasing importance in light of recent developments in Honduras and reports of possible Zelaya drug ties.

Following up on Mark's post yesterday on the Coup Caucus, I decided to do a little digging to see what other foreign entities (and global issues) U.S. Representatives felt needed a good caucusing. My list can be found after the jump, as can some larger maps. The most glaring ommission in my mind: Italy. Â The Italian Embassy in D.C. is quite nice and frequently throws parties, if you know what I'm saying.

Support for the coup in Honduras extends beyond the pages of right wing political magazines to the United States Congress.Â Tomorrow, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will host a private meeting for her Republican colleagues with former Honduran President Ricardo Maduro and former Costa Rican Ambassador to the U.S.

I can understand why Garry Kasparov hearts dissidents, since he's one of Russia's most prominent himself. And he may be able to beat anyone but a computer in chess, but his logic falls seriously short here:
But the Soviet Union used tanks to quash dissent when it could. Dictatorships use force when they can get away with it, not when a U.S. president makes a strong statement.